Okonomiyaki-Style Gromperekichelcher

This dish is a special nod to both Luxembourg and Japan. It was created for a very special occasion: the Luxembourgish national day celebration in Japan!

You can’t imagine my excitement when I was asked to create the menu for the Luxembourg National Day reception in Tokyo, Japan!!! The Luxembourg embassy had approached me earlier this year, as they knew about my love for international dishes with Luxembourgish twists, and they were looking for a quirky menu to serve the 300 invited guests.

So, here I find myself now in Tokyo, cooking up traditional Luxembourgish dishes such as Feierstengszalot and Kachkeis sandwiches, as well as other dishes from my two books. It’s quite funny going shopping for European ingredients in Japanese supermarkets – you have to keep a very open mind as lots of products are hard to source. I had to replace the broad beans for edamame means in my Judd mat Gaardebounen for example, and I had to really fight to buy 6kg of butter (as they have a butter shortage in Japan and you’re only allowed to buy 400g per person!!! Not good for someone like me who uses butter in everything.)

When I designed the menu, it was clear that I also wanted to create one token Japanese/Luxembourgish fusion dish. I quickly settled on the idea of giving the traditonal Luxembourgish Gromperekichelchen (potato cake) a Japanese dimension – by making it okonomiyaki style. Okonomiyaki is proper Japanese comfort food: a cabbage-based pancake which is smothered in a dark, sweetish sauce. There are endless Okonomiyaki varieties – you can add porkor seafood to it, sprinkle it with seaweed, spring onions or seasame seeds etc. Usually, people also add mayonnaise to their okonomiyaki – which is definitely something the Luxembourgers would appreciate.

Start by preparing the potato cakes. Peel and grate the potato and onion and put into a bowl. Add the egg, flour and salt to the mixture and stir to mix. Leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the okonomiyaki sauce: put all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Take off the hob and leave to cool.

After 15 minutes resting, give the potato cake mix a good stir. Generously cover the bottom of a frying pan with sunflower oil and heat the oil. Put four heaped tablespoons of the potato cake mixture into the frying pan, to create four individual potato cakes. Fry on each side for 2 minutes until golden brown and cooked through, then drain on a plate with a piece of kitchen towel.

Fill the mayonnaise and the okonomiyaki sauce into separate piping bags and cut off a small hole. Pipe fine lines of okonomiyaki sauce onto each potato cakes, followed by fine lines of mayonnaise. Sprinkle each potato cake with a few bonito flakes and serve immediately.

*Bonito flakes are dried tuna flakes – they are frequently used in Japanese cuisine as the delicate flakes lend dishes a smoky flavour, without adding any texture.